My “Late” Roman Paintings were begun in New York in 1996 following the Roman Paintings of 1986 and on, vertical canvases of various sizes often in diptychs or triptychs or even quadriptychs, painted in a mix of colors inspired by the light of architecture as I remembered it from Rome as well as mixtures that were used to represent skin in much of Western painting. For the “Later” Roman Paintings I chose small sizes, again vertical though by only one or two inches, cotton canvas on stretchers one and one-half inch deep, prepared with several layers of white gesso.

The colors were chosen from those that might have been used in Roman frescoes. Studying photographs of the frescoes of Pompeii I chose, in so far as possible, early pigments rather than those developed in nineteenth century Europe. Pigments in use in Pompeii were often earth colors, Pozzuoli, along with other red oxides, and Terra Verde, then Vermilion (minium), Black, Malachite Green, Lapis Lazuli, Orpiment (an arsenic yellow), Indigo, Tyrian Purple. More modern colors such as Viridian, Ultramarine Blue replacing Lapis Lazuli, Phthalocyanine Blue for Indigo, were useful, however, in recreating the range of colors drawn from my studies.

In this series, using paint I made by grinding pigments into oil, I often added white to the mix creating a “tint,” a lighter version of the pure color.

The careful installation of these paintings is as important as always, remembering that even one painting hung on one wall is an “installation.” The wall surrounding the painting joins with the painting creating a larger entity. For this installation in Philadelphia I have chosen to align the paintings from the top rather than through their centers since they are taken from the fresco, the wall painting, rather than from the portable tablet of the Renaissance. In relating the colors I have in some cases grouped the paler colors while in others the bright red, purple and yellow are seen in proximity.